Sentaku
by Mistress of Sarcasm
Summary: Choose: vb. 1:to select, especially after consideration 2: to have a preference for   3: The one thing Sakura never wanted to be forced to do.


Well, when inspiration hits, what can you do?

I hope you enjoy this, because I liked writing it.

Disclaimer: I didn't own it in the last drabble, so I highly doubt I will own it for this one.

* * *

In front of her is the choice Sakura never wanted to make.

All her life (_because life before Team 7 wasn't __**real**__, it was just practice, just a set up, an intro, because outside of Naruto and her and Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, it's dark and cold and lonely and Sakura doesn't want to be in that place ever again._) there have been these three boys she has to look after, because they're so strong and so fast and so cool that they can't possibly do it for themselves.

(_Sasuke is too much of a danger to himself, and Kakashi-sensei needs to be fixed piece by little piece and she'll be the one to do it because it's what she owes him, the man who taught her everything she knows about teamwork and friendship and loyalty. And Naruto. Naruto is too much of a damn __**hero**__, always rushing off to protect someone, to help someone, to save someone from their own destructive path. Naruto is always giving, always protecting, always the bumbling fool who grows up to be the hero in the story, the one who's so busy keeping everyone else safe that they forget about themselves._)

And they've been there, etched into her mind, into her heart, with bright smiles and silly excuses and arrogant smirks, so much so that her entire world revolves around them, is centered on their scars and cuts and bruises and broken bones. If they are her protectors, then she'll be theirs, and she'll heal what they can't themselves.

(_It's the promise she made what feels like a lifetime ago, amid kunai and blood and strands of pink hair fluttering around in the breeze. It's the oath she swore to a blonde boy, wrapped in bandages, blue eyes downcast in failure. It's the vow she whispers to herself before slumber each night, that she'll protect them, keep them safe, bring them home to those that love them alright._)

All her life, she's loved and grown to love them, and now she has to choose.

Sasuke or Naruto.

The boy she loves, or the boy who's loved her.

The one who left her, or the one who came back to her.

It should be so hard but it _is_!

Because she is still, deep, deep down inside, that helpless little twelve year old, pining pathetically after Uchiha Sasuke. Because she is still clingy and soft of heart, and more desperately in love than even she realizes. Because she what she wants, more than anything else in this _world_ is for him to acknowledge her, to care for her, to _see_ her.

It's almost more than she can stand.

Because even though she loves Sasuke as much as any woman can love a man, it's Naruto who's been her rock, Naruto who's been her friend, her _brother for God's sake_, Naruto who made a promise to bring the traitor back home, just for her. And even though she knows it's ridiculously selfish and petty and _stupid_, she's always been afraid that if she had this choice, if she ever had to pick one over the other, she always thought that she might just pick Sasuke over Naruto.

And now, her test lies before her and she is rooted to the ground, unmoving and terrified.

Sasuke's sword flashes in the sunlight.

(_And all she sees is Naruto's smile as he looks at, the words of his promise still fresh on his lips, and blue eyes flashing like stars in the sun. And then the warmth of Sasuke's body as she hugged him close to her. Naruto laughing at the ramen stand. Sasuke panting on the training ground. Naruto, bloody and torn. Sasuke, pierced full of senbon. Naruto, stopping the snake. Sasuke facing off against Orochimaru. Naruto, hurt and pinned to a tree by her kunai. Sasuke writhing in the throes of cursed seal induced pain. Naruto standing victoriously over Kiba. Sasuke arriving in a flurry of leaves and wind to fight Gaara. Naruto and Sasuke hurtling towards one another, faces alive with confidence and fury, eyes blazing in the afternoon sun. Their faces, blurring together, blonde and black intermingling in a whirlpool of colour, making her dizzy, sick, because all she can see is blue and black eyes, sometime red and more dangerous than she could possibly comprehend._)

Sakura trembles with a mixture of love and fear, and stares immobile into the faces of her choice.

(_And then, there is the feel of a kunai through her hair, and weakness fades into oblivion._)

Her feet have moved with out her say so, and now she's running, faster and faster, pulling her arm back, chakra crackling around it like a storm.

(_And suddenly, her vision fills with Sasuke, broken or happy or angry or sad, and all she sees is him, him __**Him**__…_)

And she makes her choice.

(_Inner Sakura crows in vindictive delight and her entire body burns with the adrenaline rush._)

…

Sasuke skids back from the force of the blow, and looks up at Sakura standing protectively in front of Naruto, her knuckles wet with the blood from his broken nose. Her eyes narrow.

* * *

" _Bring it on, … **teme**_."

* * *

I've always wanted to see what would happen if Sakura had ot make th choice between Sasuke and Naruto. ultimately, I think she'd choose Naruto, who's always been there for her.

Oh, and this wasn't meant to be a NaruSaku story. I always put Sakura in the role of the older sister Naruto never had.

Hope you liked it,

MoS


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